Speech Room Productivity

As school SLPs, it often feels like we have a never-ending list of responsibilities. It can be challenging to keep track of it all! This year, I took some time to think about what I need to stay on top of everything. Here’s what I came up with…

1. Brain Dump

I don’t know about you, but I’m incredibly ambitious at the beginning of the year. I have all sorts of ideas of what I want to get done. There are also a lot of things that are part of the job and must be done. I sit down and dump ALL of my ideas onto a piece of paper. Just having it all written down and out of my head really helps. I used Asana, but Evernote, a Google Doc, or even a piece of paper will do!

2. Prioritize

I identify a couple of projects (1-2) to complete. (If I know it is going to be a crazy week, then I might not put a project on my plate.) I like to break the bigger projects into more manageable pieces, so they can get done over the course of a week. An example: organization projects (setting up new systems, purging old papers, etc.)

3. Must Do Routines

That said, we do a lot more than 2-3 things over the course of a week. There are a lot of routines involved with our job (planning, therapy, meetings, billing). It helps to schedule out chunks of time to make sure I’m able to fit those things in. I use Google Calendar to keep track of these! Some examples: billing, paperwork, planning therapy

4. May Do Routines

There are some routines that don’t fit well on the calendar. There are some routines that don’t have to be completed every day or every week. I make a list of these and keep it by my desk. This way, I don’t forget about them, but it won’t have a negative impact if I don’t get to everything on the list all the time. Some examples: checking in with teachers, contacting parents

5. Organization Systems

It really helps to have a routine around the tasks that we have to complete on a daily/weekly basis. Here’s a list of some of my routines! (I’ll update with links as the posts are completed!)

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Hi there! I'm Marisha. I am a school-based SLP who is all about working smarter, not harder. I created the SLP Now Membership and love sharing tips and tricks to help you save time so you can focus on what matters most--your students AND yourself.